<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>Links - Many of the parts in the new Converse video are obviously terrific, but to no surprise Louie Lopez sticks out the most. Well, techncally Kenny Anderson is always and forever tops what with having the best style ever and being such a handsome bastard, but given his part was shared Louie gets the slight nod based on amount of content.

Zion Wright released a new web part for Real Skateboards imaginatively called Real that's just hammer after hammer after hammer. My brain legitimately can't even comprehend how it's possible to skate like this.

Work was busy and the music reviews suffered for it. Still, both the Stephen Malkmus and Tracyanne & Danny records
are worth your time. Also saw both live this month, and
likely say the same damn thing in the reviews below.

One photo journal entry this month - all my Moogfest photos in one spot for ease of viewing and/or ignoring.

It didn't feel like it at the time, but I surpassed the monthly goal - 32 out of 30 for June,
which results in 189 in 181 days at the halfway point of the year. I didn't realize I had watched so many westerns this past month...

Best
of the month (that I've likely already seen 50 times):
Dazed And Confused (1993)Best
of the month (that was actually new to me):
American Made (2017)Best stand-up
of the month: Julian
McCullough: Maybe I’m a Man (2018)Worst
of the month: Racket Girls (1951)
(even MST3K barely made this one palatable)I’m
not crying, you’re crying: It Will
Be Chaos (2018)Best bear ass: The
Great Outdoors (1988)Almost
none of this took place in Manhattan and I'd like a refund:
Friday The 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989)
Well
that was all kinds of disturbing: The Harvest (2015)
That
was way too much Imagine Dragons: Believer (2018)

After
more than 20 years of going to shows, it’s rare that I’m late.
Hey, It’s not my fault Carrburritos was that crowded! But it might have been my fault I left the house much later than I should have. Anyways, despite knowing that I would like Lithics after listening to their latest “Mating Surfaces” leading up to this gig, I sadly only got there in time for a song and a half from them. It was exactly what I was hoping for – a female-fronted, slightly more subdued version of Ex-Models.
If that doesn’t mean anything to you (it should, Ex-Models were
fantastic), think a modern, punkier Devo. They seem young, so hopefully that means they tour a lot and I can manage to show up on time should they appear here again. It had been quite a while since I had seen Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks live (or any Malkmus configuration, for that matter), but I have been enjoying their latest record “Sparkle Hard,” so it seemed worth the effort. Pavement were always notoriously hit or miss live - I think my personal tally was two good shows and one that was thoroughly lifeless & mediocre – but other than possibly being drunk, Malkmus delivered this evening. He was very talkative and funny between nearly every song – amongst all the rambling there were multiple mentions of Skunk Baxter (specifically the amount of drugs in his mustache), and at one point after someone yelled out “Charlottesville” he responded “Thomas Jefferson…he’s in the musical ‘Hamilton,’ so he’s legit.” Stephen also doesn’t look like he’s aged in 20 years, which is
particularly infuriating to this fat and bald slob. You can also
forget what a good guitarist he is until you see him play live – none of the music Malkmus has recorded over the years really stands out for its technical wizardry when you listen to
it, but there is often a lot high-level guitar playing going on in
those songs. As for the actual set of music performed on this night, it was a lot of the new record plus a few older jams like “Jenny And The Ess-Dog” scattered throughout – looking
at set lists from rest of the tour, this appears to be fairly
typical. The real highlight was the encore – just like when Spiral Stairs played last year, Pavement drummer Steve West made his way down from Virginia and joined Malkmus for a pseudo-Pavement reunion. They played two songs, “Shady Lane” and “In The Mouth A Desert”…the crowd was obviously way into it. If I could make one suggestion to other bands out there – include a near reunion of Pavement as part of your encore, it goes over like gangbusters.

Apparently every club in Durham and Chapel Hill have been reading my mind, because this Tracyanne & Dannyshow was yet another in recent months that had me arriving at the club before it was even dark outside, and back home before the late news. Feel free to jump on this bandwagon as well, Raleigh music venues. It had been a long time since I last saw Camera Obscura (apparently 2010, which is even longer than I would have guessed), but based on their popularity then I was a little surprised at the low turnout for what was clearly the best weapon of that band – namely, Tracyanne Campbell and her mellifluous voice. Regardless of attendance, they put on a lovely performance – in addition to Tracyanne and Danny Coughlan, there was also a bassist, drummer, and most notably a keyboardist who also played saxophone. It honestly hadn’t dawned on me how sax is in the songs of their self-titled record until this night. Predictably, the set was the entirety of their only record, plus a cover of Daniel Johnston’s “True Love Will Find You In The End” – twee pop is a terrific medium for this classic song. There was also plenty of banter and stories throughout the gig - as Danny noted, “If we didn’t tell stories we’d be out of here in a half hour.” As has happened every time I’ve seen her perform, I was totally in love with Tracyanne by the end of the night, and I’m quite certain I wasn’t alone. I’m pretty sure the woman could start a cult if she so desired, assuming anyone would ever actually want an army of middle-aged dorky dudes as their congregation.

Between the way the Cat’s Cradle has
been running their performances and the schedule-based festivals I've
attend-ed lately, I’ve gotten used to everything starting on
time…which makes it extra excruciating that this show started a
full hour late. Apparently this was the result of miscommunication
rather than intentional fuckery, but that didn’t make that hour of
standing around any more palatable. Plus I was tired as shit from a
long weekend of Moogfest. Complaining complainer complains!

Eventually James Elkington took the
stage – he’s been in a bunch of bands (most notably Brokeback
with Doug McCombs, who was playing bass with the Sea And Cake on this
tour), but this was just the man and his acoustic guitar. He was a
very personable fella with quality banter…clearly a man very
comfortable on stage. His music was in the same vein as Nick Drake
(but not on par obviously), wispy and delicate on top of some
excellent finger-picked guitar work. Given that description, I’m
sure you’ll be shocked to learn that the crowd was way too loud and
almost completely overpowered him, even at the very front of the
stage. It wasn’t the most exciting performance I’ve ever seen,
but the music was nice and it was pretty mesmerizing watching James
play guitar.
Holy shit it was hot in the Pinhook by
the time the Sea and Cake took the stage. Not just from the body
heat of the crowd, which had grown much larger and more tightly
packed, but the stage lights were absolutely cranked. This was great
for photos – I’ve never had it so easy at this club in my life –
but terrible for not being drenched in sweat. I was apparently so
sweaty that even from the stage, Sam Prekop pointed at me and said
“this guy is definitely hot” – and I think we all know he
wasn’t referring to my physical attractiveness. Despite that,
3/4ths of the band was dressed in Canadian tuxedos...their balls must
have been boiling. Doug McCombs and his giant David Letterman beard
was the only person not towing the fashion line. Despite the heat,
they sounded fantastic, almost as if they're a collection of highly
respected musicians that have been a band for a quarter of a century.
I love their new record “Any Day,” and to no surprise that album
make up the bulk of the set. Of course I would have loved more
classics, but they perform so rarely you take whatever you can get.
They did finally hit on a couple of their early jams during the
encore with “the Argument” and “Parasol”...honestly, getting
to see “Parasol” performed live was worth the price of admission
alone.

When it was all over, I couldn't walk
fast enough to my car and crank up the AC. Thank god for modern
conveniences.
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>"We don't have none of this stuff in the boy's room! Wait a minute! We
don't got none of this...we don't got doors on the stalls in the boy's
room, we don't have, what is this? What's this? We don't have a candy
machine in the boy's room!" Helms Alee - A Weirding Away. Part one of metal I've really been digging lately. Of course this is from their 2008 record "Night Terror," so maybe I need to listen to something from this decade. Big SpiderJeff Tweedy - I'm Always in Love. Jeff released a solo acoustic record full of songs from all of his various projectsover the years (though primarily Wilco). It sounds exactly like you would expect. Laminated Cat

Jeremy Enigk - Sacred Fire. I'm still annoyed I didn't get to see Enigk live this month because he was playing at thesame time as Stephen Malkmus, for which I already had a ticket. Not that Malkmus wasn't awesome obviously...The Long Wait Is OverPallbearer - Dancing In Madness. Part two of metal I've really been digging lately. I already had this listed as one of my favorite records of last year, but I've listened to it even more this year. Lie Of Survival

Ramones - Judy Is A Punk. Something tells me these kids are going to make something of themselves. Listen To My HeartSiouxsie & The Banshees - Cry. I didn't think I'd ever listened to much Siouxsie until I picked up one of her CDs out of the bargain bin, and ended up knowing a bunch of the songs. How though?Kiss Them For Me

The Psychedelic Furs - Imitation Of Christ. I've known the big hits forevre, but I've really been enjoying digging in to the Furs deeper jams. A truly great band. Love My WayPretty In PinkThe Ghost In YouThe Sundays - Hideous Towns. Man, the Sundays got a shit ton of airplay off their first record "Reading, Writing And Arithmetic." Skin & BonesYou're Not The Only One I Know